I at some point will be making a keezer, and a fermentation chamber out of a chest freezer, but for now I don't really have the room for them, so I obviously bottle.

I was wondering, for those of you out there who bottle, what do you have your collection up to?

I have a little over 175 bottles, mostly New Belgium and Sam Adams but here are some Gordon Beirsch and oddballs in there too. I also have 3 growlers (mainly for making starters, but I do take one down to the brewpub now and again to have it filled.)

No matter how many you have on hand, it will always be short 15 or 20 for that next batch and as soon as you start kegging, it will always be 1 too many (unless you compete and then it waill always be the wrong kind).

I've never counted before, but a doing a quick estimation, I'd say I have around 200 give or take. Mine are a large mix of a bunch of different types. My most recent score was 2 boxes full of flip tops of various sizes off of CL.

I have very few long-necks sitting around--only enough for when I think a brew is worth entering into a comp. Mainly, I have about four dozen Grolsch and Fisher Ale bottles and a number of other odd-shaped bottles siting around at any given time.

I used to have nearly ten cases of long-neck bottles before I began to keg my brews, but it took up so much space in the garage...

Working in food and beverage, I can accumulate bottles rather quickly, so having them on-hand is not all too necessary.

Added: I highly suggest to anyone who brews to a pick-up a part-time job at a nearby restaurant/bar. Besides the ease of accumulating bottles, there are the contacts with the local soda distributors (co2 tanks, regulators, co2 manifolds, SS ice chests (great for swamp coolers/heaters (if you're brewing a Saison). I'd say that nearly one third of my brewing supplies have been gathered in the food and beverage industry. Besides, you'll make some extra cash to buy ingredients! The possibilities are endless.

Be selective. Find a place that still uses pre-mix soda kegs. They're still out there. The deposit on the kegs for the restaurants are usually only $5. What a steal!

I have 12 of them that I use for apfelwein. I got them from Olde Burnside Brewing, I had to drink the beer that came in them. I know some of the online retailers sell them but they're usually kinda expensive. I got mine filled with beer for close to same price as the new empty ones online.

__________________Knucklehead Brewery, Est. 2007

Always do sober what you do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. -Ernest Hemingway

I dislike the Sierra Nevada bottles, they make good beer, but I can't fit as many of those fat bottles into my milk crates for stacking. I keep em for a while if I need'em in a pinch, but I usually end up chucking them after a while.